Improvement in signal-lanterns



WILLMM` SffROBER-TS :8L E-GB'ERT H. FISKE.

' improvementinSi-gnai-Lanterns.

N0. 118,278.' y Patented Aug. 22,187!! UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIOE- WILLIAM S. ROBERTS ANI) EGBERT H. EISKE, OE EAST GREENwIcII, R. I.

IMPROVEMENT IN SIGNAL-LANTERNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,278, dated August 22, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown th at we,VVIL LIAM S. ROBERTS and EGBRRT H. FISKE, O'E ast Greenwich,in the county of Kent and State of Rhode Island, h ave invented certain Improvements in Si gnal-Lanterns, of which the following is a specification:

Our inventi On relates more especially to lanterns used on railway trains and for other signal purposes; and its nature consists in making the lantern with two globes, One above the other, the lower one being a duplicate, except in color, of the upper One, but in a reversed position, the whole being hung On sliding pivots formed on the ends of the bail, the lamp inside being hung on pivots so as to retain its proper position when the globes are reversed 5 the object being to provide a 1antern that can be changed instantly from a white light to a colored one or from one color tO another.

Figure l is a front elevation of the lantern. Fig. 2 is the same with one of the globes removed. Fig. 3 is one Ofthe glass globes. Fig. 4 shows the wire guard-cage that covers the globe.

The center frame A is a ring, made with an upper and lower ange, the outer edges Of which are turned over to hold the-lower ring of the guard-cage S, and an edge is also made On the inner side of the lange above and below to keep the glass globes c in place. S is a guard to protect the globes, and is made of a double plate of metal at one end, to which the wires are fastened, the other ends ofthe wires being fastened to a wire ring'that iits inside the edges of the flanges, and is held securely by va catch on the spring o, the catch projecting up through a hole in the flange, so as to come inside of the ring and project out over it. Abracket, d, is attached to each side of the lantern, the ends being curved in and fastened to the iianges of the middle frame A. rlhese brackets have slots cut in them nearly the whole length to receive the ends of the bail C, which are turned square in through the brackets and headed on the inside to hold them in, the Object of the Slots in the brackets being to allow the lantern tO slide down on the bail when reversed, so that the center of gravity will be below the points of suspension, in Order tO keep the lantern upright. B is the lamp, which is held by the pivots x .fr placed above the center of gravity, that the lamp may keep its proper vertical position when the Outside case of the lantern is turned over. The glass globes a, Fig. 3, are `alike in shape, but it is intended to have one of clear glass and the other of colored glass, or both of colored glass, but of different colors, so that by holding the lantern by the bail C and turning the lantern over on the pivots in the brackets a different-colored light will be produced, avoiding the necessity of having' another lantern and enabling a person to make the change instantly when a danger Or other Signal is wanted, without loss Of time that may be dangerous..

What we claim as our invention isl. The combination of the two globes a and guards S with the swinging lamp B, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

2. The combination of the bail C and slotted brackets d d with the reversible lantern, substantially as herein set forth, and for the purpose stated.

WILLIAM S. ROBERTS. EGBERT H. FISKE.

Witnesses:

THOMAS J. TILLEY, A. V. DAWLY. 

